Criminal Law News

Thousands of drug crime cases in San Francisco could be dropped after evidence emerged that a technician at the crime lab had tampered with evidence. According to the SF Public Defender’s office, as many as 6,000 cases are in jeopardy since it came to light that lab technician Deborah Madden stole cocaine from samples.

The crime came to light when officers noticed that small samples of cocaine were missing from the containers. They asked around, and found there was stealing of evidence going on. Investigations into Madden’s conduct are going on. Madden was an employee of the San Francisco Police Department, but was not a police officer herself. She retired earlier this month. A search warrant was served on the 3^rd of March, but so far she has not been arrested for evidence tampering. She was briefly arrested that day for possession of a firearm in a totally unrelated case.

Madden worked as a criminalist for more than 29 years, and her job involved weighing seized drugs and verifying their purity. After it came to light that she had been involved in stealing cocaine from samples, Madden began talking. She made allegations about unprofessional conduct by many officers at the crime lab. Not surprisingly, this has caused the crime lab to go into damage control mode. According to investigators, Madden’s allegations about others at the crime lab are unsubstantial, and were likely made to push the spotlight away from her. As of now, no drugs are being tested at the lab which typically handles about 50 drug cases a day.

Meanwhile, other developments have resulted from the chain of events. Madden, it turns out, has a history of domestic violence and vandalism for which she was convicted in 2008. She was sentenced to probation for three years and 30 days. Criminal defense attorneys involved in drug crime cases should have been made aware of Madden’s history of misdemeanors, but oddly enough, no one bothered to inform them. Madden was disciplined after the San Francisco Police Department initiated its own investigation, but no one told criminal defense attorneys in California that one of the technicians at the crime lab responsible for weighing and testing the purity of drugs had a criminal history. Prosecutors are required to inform defense attorneys of the criminal history of witnesses, like Deborah Madden. That didn’t happen.

To a California criminal defense lawyer, it looks like a big barrel of worms has been opened at the SF crime lab, and no one there is coming out looking good.